Cloaked Comfort
by Serena Thorn
Summary: When dealing with Rumpelstiltskin, there is always a price for answers. For one resident of the Enchanted Forest, all he asks is what she is happy to give.


Title: Cloaked Comfort  
>Summary: When dealing with Rumpelstiltskin, there is always a price for answers. For one resident of the Enchanted Forest, all he asks is what she is happy to give.<br>Rating: PG-13  
>Spoilers: 1x02<br>Word Count: 955  
>Disclaimer: Once Upon a Time is not owned by me, but by ABC. I'm simply borrowing these characters for non-profit entertainment.<br>A/N: I got to thinking how Rumpelstiltskin and Red may have been in fairyland. This was just one idea I got.

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><p>It was late. Far too late for a young woman like herself to be out of her home alone. But it was what she did on nights such as this. She had just been at the meeting with nearly the rest of the town, hearing about The Queen's plans. Nervous, she knew who she had to see. If anyone would know the truth to the suspicions, it would be him. Of course Prince Charming's words echoed in her mind, but she still wanted to hear it from him. More than anything she craved his reassurance that it wouldn't be as frightening as Charming had made it sound.<p>

The guards didn't stop her when she arrived, which may have been surprising if this had been her first time or perhaps even her second into these bowels of the forest. But it wasn't. None of the guards could understand what an attractive young lady like herself would want with the man they considered to be no more than a despicable prisoner, but they knew better than to try to make it their business by now.

At times even Red wasn't sure why she so often came to him. They weren't particularly friends, though some may say they had surpassed that title. That was, if those she knew in the forest knew of the fact they spent such time together. And while there was something about him she found undeniably intriguing, tonight she had another reason to be here. A question, and only he could answer it.

"Ah, if it isn't the lovely Miss Riding Hood," Rumpelstiltskin stated in his usual upbeat, nearly sing-song way, not even having to turn to know it was her. Not with how many times she had slipped out into the night just to see him at this very late hour. Only she had to wait for her grandmother to be asleep before she could sneak away.

Unafraid, despite how many told her she should be terrified of this trickster, Red stepped up the bars. She simply asked, "Is it true?"

"All so worried. Even The Queen herself. But I assure you, my dear, all you have heard will come to pass." With that he finally turned to realize the guards had left her to speak to him alone. At her insistence, Rumpelstiltskin was sure. She was such a fiery young thing. Just another quality about her he admired.

As close as she could be to the bars then, she asked, "If we lose our happy endings, does that mean the wolf will find me again?"

"I would say, my dear, that you fear the wolves less when you are the one coming to them," he replied, knowing full well she would get his meaning. How many had warned her away from him? And how often did she ignore their words?

"If I promise to not take it back to Snow or the Prince, would you tell me?"

He stared at her for a moment. Seeing her bravery ever so slightly chipping away, Rumpelstiltskin stepped closer to the bars himself, letting his head dip between the slats to further close the gap between them. While he still didn't see them, he knew the guards were never far. Dropping his voice a bit, he told her, "For a price. Once above your promise."

She knew what he wanted and Red didn't even have to think before she pressed forward and kissed him. Anyone else in their land often had to pay him in jewels or even sometimes the promise of first-born children. All he ever asked of her was affection and Red had found it wasn't even difficult for her to give anymore.

Moments passed before they parted, but when they did Rumpelstiltskin answered her, "The only happy ending will be The Queen's. We will be taken to a place where dreams do not come true, where heroes ride to no rescues. Where we will remember none of this. Not until the curse is broken."

That time it was Red who was staring. "Broken? The curse will be broken?" She knew there had been the chance, but not that it would truly happen. For Rumpelstiltskin to be so sure, she knew it would be true.

"Like any other curse, this too can be broken. Snow and Charming know the rest. All you need know now, my dear, is there are only two wolves you shall face. The one you are right to fear, and the one you are simply told to fear."

After the curse had come to pass, and nearly all of those in Storybrooke had forgotten who they once were, some of The Queen's other promises had stuck as well. Including those she had made to Mr. Gold when he was still known as Rumpelstiltskin.

Her promise to grant him a good life, done. His being granted comfort in this new land had also come to pass. Now it was true that no one had promised him, or even implied, who he would be receiving it from, but he had kept the girl in mind even as he stated his wishes to The Queen. He had given her the curse after all, of course he had filled in those blanks. And that very morning, as he awoke to find his young lover still asleep with her black and red hair draped over his bare chest, it served as further proof to him that certain things hadn't changed too terribly much after all.

Changes had been made, past selves had been forgotten, but he was still finding comfort from the girl who still every so often cloaked herself in red. And perhaps that in of itself was its own happy ending.

The End


End file.
